A smell hit me like a truck going full speed. Pine trees and winter storms. Leather and something wild and scary and completely overwhelming. It made my wolf go totally crazy inside my head, scratching and clawing to get out. My knees went weak. The cleaning materials fell from my hands, clattering to the floor like my world was falling apart.

"Do you smell that?" a deep voice asked. The voice sent shivers down my spine.

"Honey and wildflowers," another voice answered, rougher than the first. "Like summer and sunshine. Where is it coming from?"

A third voice, softer but just as strong, said, "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever smelled."

But that was impossible. I was just an omega. Just unseen Aisla who cleaned floors and stayed out of sight and never caused trouble for anyone important.

The footsteps got closer. I could hear them breathe now.

My wolf was going crazy inside me. She wanted out. She wanted to run toward that smell, not away from it. She wanted something I didn't understand.

"There," the third voice said, softer than the others but somehow more dangerous. "In the kitchen. She's in there."

The footsteps stopped right outside the door. I could feel them there, waiting.

Deep down, I knew my life was about to change forever.

I could swear I heard three wolves roaring inside my head.

The kitchen door handle turned slowly.

I was about to meet my fate.

Or my doom.


~

I had spent my entire life in the shadows. As a lowly omega, I was used to being overlooked, ignored, and unseen. 

But everything changed on my 18th birthday.

That was the day the Moon Goddess gave me a cruel kind of blessing. 

I had a mate. 

Not just one. 

Not two. 

But all three of the Alpha’s sons, the legendary triplets were bound to me.

I lay awake in the barracks as the echoes of her kiss still burned against my lips. Aisla's smell clung to me. It was a mix of smoke, wildflowers and power. The bond hummed steady in my chest, no longer a storm, no longer tearing me apart. For the first time in weeks, it was calm.


But the calm frightened me even more than the chaos.


I turned to my side and stared at the roof with my fists clenched in the covers. Her power had steadied because of what happened between us. Because of that fragile moment where I had let myself forget the war and the pack and Father.


And now I couldn't stop thinking about it. Was I strength for her or a weakness waiting to be cut down?


 I found myself in the council chamber at dawn. The air smelled of smoke and wax and maps were laid on the table with their corners pinned with daggers. The elders muttered in clusters, their robes stiff and their mouths sharper than their claws.


Chapter 73 - The Weight of Ash